The Elitist Method - My Lost Lawyer Friend

My best friend of 15 years is wrapping up 2L at a top-tier law school. Since getting an incredible 6-figure offer at a top firm in NYC he has become an insufferable elitist. (He is like a hipster...with money.)

He pretends to like wine, speaks to service-people in that way that snobs tilt their heads back while keeping their eyes closed, and cultivates an obsession with European fashion.

The transformation happened overnight. This is the same kid with whom I played little league baseball, marched in the band, and smoked my first cigar. We grew up together and now he insists on growing apart. 'Prole' is now his favorite word.

I'm all about upward social and financial mobility, but should it really steal your soul?

Have any of you experienced this with your friends? Or, worse yet, do you have a latent awareness of this plague inside of yourself?

He'll get over that quick when he goes to that biglaw gig and becomes some mid-level's minion.

All the top-level partners I know are cool, down to earth people. Its the wanna-be's that pull that crap.

I hope that you are right, BikePilot. I really do. It has been heartbreaking to witness a brilliant young man succumb to the dark side and become an avaricious, hypocritical, disingenuous little weasel.

I hope that you are right, BikePilot. I really do. It has been heartbreaking to witness a brilliant young man succumb to the dark side and become an avaricious, hypocritical, disingenuous little weasel.

Hahaha! Hey, your real friend is in there. Give him a little time to enjoy his success. Let him make an ass of himself a little longer. If he's a good guy, he'll come down to earth again on his own, eventually. If it goes on too long and you get to where you really can't stand him, perhaps you could say something like, "Hey man, I'm really happy for your success. But you're really wearing me out. It's to the point where I'm not sure I really want to be around you because you're acting like kind of a feminine hygiene product."

After that, who knows. He's young and he's just accomplished a great thing. He's got a bit of a swelled head. I don't think that's so unusual and I don't think it makes him a bad person.

Give him a little time to take it all in.

BTW: I've made six figures before. Heck, I've made new biglaw associate money, before. It really is nice, but it doesn't exactly put you in the ultra strata of the filthy rich. You still don't own airplanes or a house in the Hamptons.

Granted, if he hangs on and makes midlevel associate or partner, he'll be pulling down major coin. (I've known two people who worked biglaw. One made it 2 years, the other made it 4. My personal opinion is that in both cases, they took it about as long as they could stand it and just couldn't last any longer.)

Until then, he's well off, but hardly wealthy. A new biglaw associate makes about what a family practice doctor makes, and you don't see them running around stuffing their money in everyone's face.

Sorry I did not clarify, Hamilton. It's a top-tier BIGLAW SA offer between 2L and 3L that extrapolates to close to 200k (how close depends upon bonuses) when the student becomes a year-round associate following graduation.